• by Wayne Friedman , March 16, 2007

Thank the electoral system. Stronger-than-usual political advertising--as well as other top improving ad categories--helped drive local broadcast ad dollars up by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, versus the same period in 2005.

Fourth-quarter dollars moved up to $5.7 billion in the top 100 markets, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB), with data from TNS Media Intelligence/CMR. All this lifted the full year 2006 to an 11.5% improvement, to $18.7 billion.

Although there were complaints from the biggest category--automotive--TVB said for the year, the auto business improved 13.1% to $1.27 billion. The government and organizations category, which includes political dollars, was up almost threefold: 267.6% to $710 million. Restaurants were next--16.5% higher--then telecommunications, up 34.7%. Another strong gainer was the movie business, coming in 10th overall, and up 27.3% to $134.2 million.

The General Motors Dealer Associations was the top earner for stations--at $158 million, a 16.2% improvement. Virtually all other dealer associations also showed double-digit gains, except for DaimlerChrysler, which sank 14.4% versus the same period in 2005.

The most dramatic gainers were Toyota Motor Corp.--up nearly 120% to $92.4 million--and AT&T, which also had a strong showing, gaining nearly 200% to $79.6 million.

For the quarter, network TV had a 6.1% decline to $6.7 billion. For the full year, network advertising in those 100 markets was up a scant 2% to $25.4 billion. Syndication also sank in the fourth quarter--off 7.7% to $1.06 billion.

Overall, TV broadcast revenues witnessed a 3.8% gain to $13.3 billion in the fourth quarter, and a 5.3% gain for the full year to $48.4 billion.